Defiance: Review By The Narrator: The Better Man

Gramov: How come it's so f*cking hard to like Jews? Tuvia Bielski: Try being one.
  • OVERALL
    3.5
    GREAT
  • Story
  • Acting
  • Directing
  • Visuals
To be honest, I watched this movie online. I'm glad I did. Not because this movie wasn't worth the $9, but because on my computer, dark, by myself, I really had comfort, relaxation, and a good time with this movie.

The story, (a true story) is about of course the Defiance of Jews, against the Nazi's when the war first started. They come into one particular village, as with many and kill everyone save four brothers, who hide and find each other in the woods (their backyard kinda). With only a shotgun, they go wandering around the forest which they know better than anyone, hoping to be undetected there. Well it turns out that their not the only ones smart enough to hide there, and come in contact with a bunch of Jews. Then slowly and slowly more and more of their kind are found, and before you know it they have a whole colony of them. They make their living steeling food, begging for food, making food, and surviving basically.

Well, I think from the trailer and such, you know what happens. Attention like this cannot go unseen for long, and soon the Germans are after them.

Now, the cool thing about this movie, which makes or bakes it, is the acting. I thought the acting was great on this movie. I mean, I truly thought that Daniel Craig, Liev Shreiber, and Jamie Bell were all Jews on the run. Great acting, not to mention the humor, and realness of this movie. i mean, here I was expecting non stop action, and it is really rather simple. But I was not disappointed.

This is not the type of movie you see for action. Nor for romance. This is a movie about a real life story, and in real life, sh*t happens, but not all the time, so deal with it. Instead take this movie as a testament of the better human nature, and about family.

Daniel Craig plays Tuvia Bielski, I think he's the oldest of the brothers, because he was the only one not living in the village of his family. He is of course the main star, and leader of this rubble. In the movie, after an act of revenge on the men who murdered his parents, he realizes, revenge is not the key to happiness. He says "our revenge is surviving". and it was well said. I really enjoyed his acting, and look forward to the next performance by him.

Liev Shreiber is Zus Bielski, the stubborn middle bother, who doesn't like being under Tuvia. He is a good actor, but I never really liked him, till now. He is realistic, and funny at times, with this performance. So his character goes off and joins the Russian red army, occupying the same forest, to fight the Germans. He see's all this war, and doesn't really feel anything to much, because his wife was killed by them. But he has his nice parts here and there, because he cares for his people, and I think he was a great if not perfect choice to portray this character.

Jamie bell is Asael Bielski, the second youngest of the four brothers, and I was surprised by his performance. He plays a young man, who backs his oldest brother an respects him, yet always has to choose between Tuvia, or Zus. He starts out sort of wimpish as a person his age and under his circ*mstances should be, but progresses into turning into a young man, and young leader. He is chosen to play the lead in Spielberg's Tintin, and I think he will do a great job, as he does in this one.

the rest of the cast does good as well, bringing life to this, if not, rather slow tale, especially the rabi, and the writer.

The directing is good. I mean, I have seen better from Edward Zwick, such as his Blood Diamond, or Last Samurai, but this is still pretty good. I didn't feel anything new on this, so I am a tad bit dissapointed there. But he did good.

Altogether this is a great film, just don't be wanting action, over story.

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Comments (11)

  1. Michael5

    Awesome Review.

    2 years agoby @michael5Flag

  2. Brian

    Your reviews are shredding.

    2 years agoby @brianFlag

  3. The Narrator: The Better Man

    Lol. Sorry, I just checked this review. I think you have valid points. I guess they just counted on luck and a human secure system to survive. But I was more tan pleased with the acting and the score. Thanks again Sly ad Wiseguy.

    2 years agoby @narratorFlag

  4. slysnide

    Just saw it last night. I found it odd that the story randomly ended 8 months into their 32 month long stay in the forest. That made it seem anti climactic, such as how did they manage to evade Nazis such that they needn't retreat from their camp again? After all, only a few Jewish members of the Red Army joined Zus in returning to stay with the Bielski Ortriad. Still excellent acting all 'round. Especially from Craig! His best performance yet! And Jews fighting back made me happy. You never getta see that kinda stuff in these depressing films which generally just make me hate Nazis more and more rather than feel sadness for the victims, so I liked Zus' standpoint in it. 4.5 overall for me, though it still seemed to end too randomly given the mere 8 month span it follows versus the 24 months thereafter.

    3 years agoby @slysnideFlag

  5. WiseGuy

    Nice review. Great film, Just saw it the other day.
    The acting was great and I really enjoyed it.

    3 years agoby @zgcorleone072Flag

  6. slysnide

    I made a playlist of this flick on youtube but never got the time to watch it before it was pulled off the site back in February, but I did see "Doubt" on the site in approximately the same timeslot. I figured this movie would only be as good as you rated it.

    3 years agoby @slysnideFlag

  7. Structure (ONSTRA)

    great review Fallen.

    3 years agoby @gaj1992Flag

  8. The Narrator: The Better Man

    Haha. Yeah, Last Smaurai was great, and Blood Diamind was even better.

    An yeah, this is definently not for everyone. I mean if I wasn't like I was, I would probably fall asleep a bit. But to me it was good.

    Oh, and thansk for the comment. lolz.

    3 years agoby @narratorFlag

  9. T.Clark

    PLUS, I loved the last samurai lol

    3 years agoby @insertusernamehereFlag

  10. T.Clark

    Nice review. I've heard mixed opinions on this, but I like Craig, and that was the main reason I was interested in it. I probably won't see it in theaters. I'm seeing Taken this weekend

    3 years agoby @insertusernamehereFlag